The exhibition tracks the development of underwear through history, particularly during the 20th century
Although the oldest written sources about underclothing from the Šibenik district come from as long ago as the 15th century, for many centuries the main parts of women’s underclothing were just shirts and stockings. But local women did keep up with fashions in European cities and in the 16th century were already wearing stays, a hundred years later their shirts were ornamented with lace, and in the 18th century underskirts came into fashion.
But it was only in the 18th century that drawers for women came in, although men had started wearing them – in addition to shirts and stockings – considerably earlier. In the 19th century women’s drawers went down to the knee, and had an opening in the middle, and were tied by a drawstring at the waist or fastened with buttons. The modern woman at the beginning of the 20th century wore sewn pants with elastic in the hems, and from the 1950s, Šibenik women were wearing standardised off-the-shelf underwear.
Exhibition devised by: Marija Krnčević Rak